The Production Potential of the Olive Oil from Native Cultivars in Albania

Albania has an annual production capacity of ca. 50 000 tons of olive fruits and 6000 tons of olive oil. The corresponding cultivation area covers 41000 ha, distributed over 90 000 small farms. In total, olive trees area covers 6.3% of the total arable land. This paper, presents the characterizes the fatty acid profile and total phenolic content of 6 olive varieties, namely, Kalinjot, Ulli i bardhe Tirana (Bianco di Tirana), Karren, Nisiot, Kotruvs, and Kokerrmadh Berati, all from the same harvesting period. Results on fatty acid (FA) profiles exhibit a variation in concentration of oleic acid, 71.53 ± 0.02% (Kotruvs) to 80.07 ± 0.04% (Nisiot). The content of linoleic acid varies from 4.10 ± 0.00% (Nisiot) to 9.31 ± 0.01% (Kotruvs), whereas the content of linolenic acid varies from 0.45 ± 0.01% (Karren) to 0.72 ± 0.02% (Kalinjot). Analysed OO from six olive varieties revealed moderate levels of palmitic acid, between 9.94 ± 0.01% (Nisiot) to 12.21 ± 0.01% (Kotruvs). From a nutritional point of view, it is worth noticing that the Nisiot variety has an n-6/n-3 ratio of 8.11, while the Karren 18.72. The total phenolic content for the studied olive cultivars varied from 89.74 ± 5.47 (Karren) to 445.03 ± 16.83 mg/kg olive oil (Ulli i bardhe Tirana); such variation may reflects different antioxidant capacity among olive cultivars. Keywords— Native Olive Cultivars; Kalinjot; Ulli i Bardhe Tirana, Kokerrmadh Berati, Nisiot, Fatty acid, Polyphenol content.